Updated at 11:55 p.m. EST, Nov. 30, 2007An otherwise quiet prayer day was marked by the detention of dozens of people associated with a Sunni leader. Five U.S. soldiers were injured during a controlled detonation of a car bomb found at the politician’s Baghdad office. Two U.S soldiers were killed in separate incidents elsewhere. Overall, [...]
A Tenuous ‘Peace’ in Anbar
RAMADI, Iraq – A semblance of calm belies an undercurrent of violence, detentions and fear across Iraq’s volatile Anbar province. The province – which occupies one-third of Iraq’s geographic area – has been a bane to authorities since the beginning of the occupation. "The Americans talked about our province as the deadliest enemy, and suddenly [...]
Blowback From Moscow
Our next president will likely face a Russia led by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, determined to stand up to a West that Russians believe played them for fools when they sought to be friends. Americans who think Putin has never been anything but a KGB thug will reject accusations of any U.S. role in [...]
Catch 22 in Iraq: Why American Troops Can’t Go Home
Whoa, let’s hold those surging horses in check a moment. Violence has lessened in Iraq. That seems to be a fact of the last two months – and, for the Iraqis, a positive one, obviously. What to make of the “good news” from Iraq is another matter entirely, one made harder to assess by the [...]
McCain’s Mangled Metaphor
Never mind Hillary’s plants or that guitar-strumming singing wannabe pundit, the real news out of the Youtube/CNN GOP slugfest is that John McCain’s failing, cash-strapped campaign was dealt another heavy blow in his embarrassing tiff with antiwar Republican Ron Paul. As Paul accurately pointed out that we could ameliorate a lot of suffering – including [...]
Exposing the Guardians of Power
What has changed in the way we see the world? For as long as I can remember, the relationship of journalists with power has been hidden behind a bogus objectivity and notions of an "apathetic public" that justify a mantra of "giving the public what they want.” What has changed is the public’s perception [...]
Khrushchev’s Cold War
Aleksandr Fursenko and Timothy Naftali, Khrushchev’s Cold War (New York: Norton paperback, 2007), 670 pp. Überhawks carelessly toss around the Hitler comparison – Ho Chi Minh was Hitler. Slobodan Milosevic was Hitler. Saddam Hussein was Hitler. Now Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is Hitler. Yet it is nonsense to compare the leaders of small, poor, and underdeveloped Third [...]
Thursday: 2 GIs, 30 Iraqis Killed; 48 Iraqis Wounded
Updated at 11:57 p.m. EST, Nov. 29, 2007At least 30 Iraqis were killed and 48 more were wounded in the latest attacks. In Baghdad, over 100 tribal chiefs staged a peaceful protest over the deteriorating conditions in Diyala province. Also, an MND-B soldier was killed during a small arms attack in western Baghdad, and a [...]
Christians And Muslims Coexist in Gaza
GAZA CITY – As Sunday dawns in Gaza City the traditional Islamic call to prayer mingles melodically with church bells. Side by side, mosque and church doors swing open, welcoming the faithful. Greetings are eagerly exchanged. The October kidnapping and murder of Rami Ayyad, the manager of Gaza’s only Christian bookstore, sent shudders through the [...]
Much Ado About Annapolis
ANNAPOLIS, Maryland – The Middle East peace conference that began and ended here on this crisp, sunny Tuesday was lean on specifics for a lasting peace deal between Israel and Palestine and the formation of a Palestinian state. Dealing with a timeline for continued talks on "final status" issues, rather than the contentious issues themselves, [...]




